Transcript 0:00 My grandpa was one of my favorite all-time people growing up. I remember going to the Tulip Festival with him. I remember his blue jacket was always full of Starburst. 0:10 I remember a lot about my grandfather, but I also remember a lot about what he instilled in me, and some of the values he dropped along the way. Things like, "I could never afford to buy cheap." 0:22 Now, what that means to me is that in the industry that I'm in, mattresses don't last through their warranty, and those big box brands really don't have your best interests in mind. 0:31 They'd rather have you buy a bed and it break down prematurely, and you'd have to buy a new bed again. 0:36 But at Juna Sleep Systems, we value our commitment to our customers and their satisfaction long term, which is why we only use the best quality ingredients, and we're there for you any time you wanna make a change to the mattress, even per side. 0:48 At Juna, 1950s values are still alive. We're only as good as the quality products we turn out at the end of the day, and our word is our bond. Come on down and check us out today, 41st and Grange, in Sioux Falls. 1:00 If you wanna understand what's really happening in South Dakota, start with The Dakota Scout, South Dakota's leading journal of politics and culture. Locally owned and printed in Sioux Falls. 1:13 Founded in 2022 by veteran reporters Jonathan Ellis and Joe Sneve, the Scout brings more than 40 years of combined experience and a reputation for relentless, fair-minded reporting. 1:25 From Sioux Falls City Hall to the state capital in Pierre, The Dakota Scout delivers breaking news, investigative reporting, and serious political coverage without the spin. 1:35 Its Lewis and Clark-inspired logo reflects its mission, charting new territory in a new era of South Dakota journalism. 1:44 Subscribe today for full access to stories delivered straight to your inbox, plus The Scouting Lounge podcast. $7 a month at thedakotascout.com. The Dakota Scout, stay informed. Let me grab my car keys and we'll roll. 2:01 Are we still going to that new bar downtown? Yeah, it's supposed to be fun. Lexi, give me driving directions from home to downtown bar district. Autocorrect. Suggest Uber. Pick up home. Drop off downtown bar district. 2:14 No, I'm driving. Suggest the Metro bus, departing in 12 minutes. Huh, point taken, Lexi. We'll grab a ride. If you drink, don't drive. 2:22 Decide to ride, brought to you in partnership by Anheuser-Busch, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Uber. This message brought to you by Biel Distributing of Sioux Falls. 2:30 A lifetime isn't measured in speeches, it's measured in actions. Larry Rhoden spent his life ranching, welding, serving on the school board, as a deacon in his church, a volunteer basketball coach. 2:42 Long before he was governor, Larry Rhoden was serving his community, not for attention, not for headlines, that's just who he is. 2:51 As governor, he kept serving, delivering the largest property tax cut in South Dakota history, putting $1,000 or more back in families' pockets, reducing violent crime, murder, meth, and robberies by double digits. 3:04 Standing up for life, banning the abortion pill, and defending our Second Amendment rights, earning him the endorsement of the NRA. Some politicians spend a lifetime pretending to be somebody else. 3:16 Larry Rhoden spent his lifetime showing us who he is. July 28th, Governor Larry Rhoden, keeping South Dakota strong, safe, free, and built to last. Paid for by Rhoden for Governor. 3:30 [rock music] Welcome to The Scouting Lounge, a podcast of the Dakota Scout Newspaper based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 3:50 My name is Jonathan Ellis. And that was Joe Sneve. That's one beer. We have one beer. That's two beer. Two beers. Three. Biel, Biel Distributing beers. And four. We have two guests today. Two, a double, 4:05 a double guest show. I like that 'cause the content flows better. Yeah. You know, when one of us needs to be picked up, somebody's there. Well, let's introduce our guests. Well, we gotta, we gotta make money, though. 4:16 Oh yeah, that's right. Juna Sleep Systems. Yeah. How's that bed treating you? Oh, it's awesome. It's a great bed. Yeah. Well, um, they opened a new store in Rapid. Our West River people can go out there and lay on a bed. 4:29 [laughs] Lay on a bed- They're a comf- very comfortable bed... and drink a Busch Light. So, uh, the esteemed, uh, male of the power couple that is the Ottens, Ernie Otten, senator, former representative, uh, GOAC. 4:46 Uh, you're not chair still, are you? Vice chair. You're vice chair, okay. Vice chair. A lot of power there. The, uh... And on Appropriations. That is a lot of power there, too. Chair of Appropriations. 4:55 Chair of Appro- Yeah, there's the most power, really. People call a lot? Uh, what, uh, y- yes, and uh, you also get caught in the, the hallways. You know, everybody's got their hand out and, uh- More, please... more. 5:10 And, uh- And I heard-... 5:11 I did on, I won't tell you who, but, uh, it was getting late in the session, I knew where our numbers had to go, and they come up and they wanted, uh, I think it was 10 million, and, uh, I used the Seinfeld deal. 5:23 Just a cool 10 million. Yep, just no soup for you. No soup. No soup. No 10 million. No s- No... soup for you. No soup. 5:28 And well, I suppose you get to know the Bureau of Finance and Management commissioner pretty well if you're on Approps. Who is our other esteemed guest, Jim Terwilliger, Twigs, Coyote, alum. 5:39 Oh, I thought I had the best beer opening- He-... out of the four... he knows better... or, yeah. That's right. S- former, former ath- you know, former elite athlete, now wrestler of- Well-... state budgets. 5:51 Do you- Well, that's right... do, do, do you, do you... Are you... Strike me as a guy who'd play softball, on a men's softball team. Yeah, I played a little bit of softball. Yeah. 5:57 But you know, you get to a point where you l- you just hang all that stuff up, right? We're not getting the-... torn achilles- The Achilles... blown out knee. 6:04 Like, there's a certain time you just hang that stuff up, and the guys that hang on too long, they, you know, they end up hobbled up Blow a knee. Yeah. I suppose after 30 that ain't good, you know. No, it's not. 6:17 So- That's right... the, uh... Well, welcome in, guys. You're return guests. Yeah. State Senator Ernie Otten. Um, you guys are in the news a lot. Uh, welcome into the dungeon. 6:30 First I- I was very impressed with the concertina wire surrounding this and the- Yeah... the sandbags. It's, uh- Well, we are armed. Yeah. 6:38 We are, we are working on AI-powered m- machine guns, but we're, we haven't gotten there yet. Certain areas. Well, that, that goes with the, uh, foxhole out front and all that- [laughs]... 6:46 on a governor whose name we will not speak. Yeah. Well, any, uh... The way things are going, might not be joking about that stuff. Rare. But, uh, anyway, things are pretty good in South Dakota, I think. 6:58 Uh- Yeah, you guys had some big news on budget-wise, right, this week? Yeah. Was that this week? There's a lot of money... I suppose your phone started ringing again once the surplus numbers come out. Yeah. 7:07 Somebody will be like, "Hey, that $10 million, that was nothing." [laughs] Well, the problem is when they do start calling they, you know, they see that, uh, number, um, 7:16 and they, you know, they think that that's a, a lot of money. But if you go back just, uh, two years, we cut, um, uh, DSS, we also cut, uh, the Department of Health. 7:28 We ended up cutting the Department of Health too deep, and so the following year, uh, we had to backfill that. I think it was 24 million. Yeah. We- Human services... Human services. Yeah. DHS. Yep. 7:39 And, um, so, uh, and w- we have the last few years, we, we've been cutting into stuff, uh, pretty t- pretty, uh, hard. 7:48 Uh, uh, Medicaid, um, or Medicare, uh, we cut into that and we also did the, um, uh, schools with the, uh, students. Uh, we're, we're on that- Formula. Yeah, the... 8:01 Well, we're on that drop rate of students coming into the system. Yes. It has to square around in 30, I believe it is. 8:08 But, uh, so we shifted some of that and I even started getting a little nervous on, uh, guys where [laughs] we're really, uh, yanking this thing back. But- Yeah... um, so to have, you know- Is that a product of, like, 8:21 just the, uh, I guess, hangover from COVID stimulus and stuff like that? Or- In terms of, like, students numbers? No, just in general having to cut. You know, it's like 8:33 here in Sioux Falls, Shawn Pritchett has said, you know, the re- a big reason why they're kind of in this hole is kind of... 8:41 He kind of wishes they wouldn't have even gotten the money to begin with, 'cause now it's put them in this- Yeah. I mean, just rewinding five years, coming out of the pandemic- Yeah... 8:50 and there's a lot of money that was put into the system, right? When I say put into the system- Yeah... nationally, like all the COVID relief funds and XYZ. I know- And we got, like, 10 billion here, right? I... 9:01 Not 10 billion, but a f- a few billion. Yeah. Couple billion. Yeah. And so that works its all the way through the system, of course, caused some inflation. Again, nationally. This isn't just in South Dakota. 9:11 And so for a few years we had really strong sales tax growth, and money was coming in, and that's when you saw a lot of states that were doing tax cuts. Yeah. And w- that's when we did the rate cut of.3% and XYZ. 9:24 And so then coming off of that a little bit, yeah, you saw that in fiscal year 2025 where sales tax actually softened a little bit. Yeah. And then we closed this last fiscal year in '26 and we saw things perk up again. 9:38 So our sales tax- Yeah... just when we closed the books, grew a 6.6%, which is pretty- Normalizing. Yeah. And- Back to our normal- That's good... stage, right... good to see things kind of get back to normal. 9:47 Well, with regard to the COVID money, you guys are, at the state level, were pretty careful to try to use that, funnel that into one-time spending projects and not put that into the, the budget. 9:56 That's a good point, Jonathan, 'cause a lot of states... I belong to a national association of state budget officers, and we go and we have conferences, we talk about all this stuff. 10:06 A lot of states created new offices, hired new people to manage all this COVID stuff. Man. And they're figuring out- Getting drunk on free money. [laughs] That doesn't sound like a good idea to me, but... 10:17 And they're figuring out how to unwind all that. Yeah. And we, we didn't do that in South Dakota, right? 10:22 We did some contractual help to help us manage and report it all and stuff, but for the most part, it went for one time type things. A lot of the ARPA funds went for environmental water projects- Yeah... 10:32 and things across the state. And so, you know, we managed it the right way. Yeah. The, uh... I don't know, though. I don't know if you sending $2 million to a town of 25 people, I don't know if that's... 10:44 I, I- Is that one of the R- water projects? Yeah. Well, I get these Danner Grants, you know, they gotta give it somewhere, and they're applying for it. But you gotta kinda wonder if these... 10:52 Like Trent, South Dakota, you could've just gave everybody 20 grand. [laughs] Not eligible. Not eli- Not eligible. Not an eligible use. But, uh... No, it, it's... Things seem... I mean, we had a surplus. 11:07 What, 69 million? Yeah. What's the- 6- 69 million. Nice. It was nice. [laughs] It was nice. Um, and the good thing about it, just to touch on that a little bit, is, you know, every year 11:21 there's, there's two sides of the coin, as you know. Yeah. You either have a surplus or you have a deficit. 11:25 I mean, and so the way we've managed the budget over probably the last couple of decades since I've worked in the state budget world, is we wouldn't want to have a surplus every year. Yeah. 11:36 And we were fortunate this year, when the legislature sets the revenue forecast in February, you still have February, March, April, May, June, five months till you finish the fiscal year. 11:46 So we have to kinda estimate what sales tax is gonna be in May and June, what the economy is be- gonna be doing. Yeah. That's on the revenue side. Yeah. 11:55 So we're, we were fortunate the revenue came up and- Some of the legislators got a crystal ball, though. I think they, like, have... Yeah. Yeah. He's got one. There's a couple of them- He's got one... 12:03 I bet they do think they can look into a crystal ball. The, you know, going back, you know, when we were talking about inflation, if people go back- Um, 12:13 well Obama, uh, where you had Yellen and she was always talking about this, you know, inflation is transitory. Yeah. Well, it translated several years into the future and we're now paying the, the brunt of all this crap. 12:26 Yeah. Yeah. Can you say crap? Yeah, but yeah. You can say it so- Oh, that's-... wherever you want... all right. Any word you want out. You know, I don't... I mean, we'll bleep some stuff out, but you know, this is... 12:38 I don't think there's a lot of kids listening, but unless my kids are in the next room sometimes. 12:42 But the, uh, with the surplus thing though, you'll have people that say, "Well, if you have a surplus, you have to, you over tax it," 'cause you're not... You're taking money you don't really need. But is that... 12:53 Like in Sioux Falls they s- shoot for 25, 30%, um, and they plan for future one-time projects like fire departments, uh, fire, fire stations, stuff like that. How do you guys approach that? 13:06 You know, like, "Hey, we got all this..." You start looking for those one time projects then once you hit a certain... That's right. Yeah. 13:13 So as, as what happened, so with the $69 million surplus, um- That blows is nice... which is nice. Nice. That flows... [laughs] It flow, it flow, it flows into our reserve funds, right? 13:27 And we've actively also managed our reserve funds. We don't sit on and accumulate all this money. We try and go do good with it, invest it back into South Dakota. 13:37 The biggest thing with the reserve funds we've done in the last year is- Prism... men's prism. Yeah Right? We saved up all that. We saved up all that. 600- PTSD over here... PTSD. 650 million, it's all paid for. 13:52 We've got a prison Right?... new one. It's coming. [laughs] Wow. How is this happening? Yeah. I'm assuming by- You forgot about that? [laughs] Yeah. Well, you, you go... 14:01 So the 69 million though, that's essentially because a part of the governor's plan for, uh, property tax relief was to take some money out of reserve immediately to get that program immediately going. 14:13 Um, that basically, that's, that's a wash it seems like. Is it- Yeah, it is... wasn't that about 57 million or so? Yeah, yeah. Okay. That's right. That's exactly right. 14:20 Yeah, the governor proposed, last year when he proposed the budget, to leave about 12 and half percent in reserves. 14:27 We ended up going down to 10%, as you mentioned, to pay for that purs- first part of the property tax p- package through Senate Bill 245. 14:35 Now with the 69 million come in, it put us, our reserve levels back up to about 12.7%. So it's nothing crazy. 14:41 I would say that's, you know, a lot of states are actually up in the 18, 20% range if you look at reserves across the nation. 14:48 When, when you say invested, that you take the reserves and try to invest it in s- s- stuff in South Dakota, do you mean like CDs or what are, what are your... What, what kind of investments? No, when I say that... 14:57 Just curious. Good question. I'll call it. It does get invested, so we earn a- Right. So we're-... earn a return on it. We, we do that now too. [laughs] Try to. Absolutely. 15:05 But when I say invest it, we'll look at one time opportunities such as the advanced manufacturing project over here at Southeast TAT. Gotcha. TAT. Okay. Right? That we- Yeah... 15:14 there, we had a special appropriation this legislative session. That's what I mean, is anything typically over 10% has been a policy that we'll go out and look for good investments. Um, and we never let, you know... 15:27 Typically our practice has been not to let our reserves be- go below 10%. Sure. 'Cause we reserve that truly for emergencies, whatever, something unexpected, unexpected comes up. Like, like a, like a Duggar governorship. 15:41 Well, it's- J- he, he didn't, he wasn't gonna use those reserves, but- Yeah... but, uh, j- j- j- It's the same, yeah, it's the same mindset. Yeah. It's the same mindset. 15:49 The, um, uh, senator, I wanted to ask you, I'm gonna kind of draw, I'm drawing a blank on what I was gonna ask you, but, um, you've been around doing this a long time, and has that philosophy basically stayed consistent? 16:03 'Cause now you're being... This is, you're on your third governor, if I got that right. Correct? Yeah. That, has that philosophy stayed pretty consistent? I, I think so. Oh, among lawmakers too? No. 16:14 Well, he's not, he doesn't wanna say that one governor's name. Yeah. So... I don't speak that name. I don't want a Black Hawk over my house with ninjas coming sliding down in 'em, so. Yeah. Um... No comment. 16:27 [laughs] You guys are the ones supposed to say that. Um- A nice thing about, you know, what we had been doing through the Dugard years and, uh, continuing on now these last few years 16:38 is, um, you know, we'll have the 69, the governor will pick, you know, some, some top level stuff that he wants done. And then like last year, he left us some dollars on the bottom. That's, yeah. 16:49 And the, the caucus then got to, to chime in and, and talk about it and that's- I know. Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you about because that's, that seemed to be, uh... 16:57 Obviously Governor Rhoden is, is a, is a, I kinda wanna say the... He's f- he's a product of the legislature. Legislature. Right. And so that seemed to me to be a little more... 17:06 I don't recall other governors necessarily doing that as much or being as open about like, "Hey, here's some money for you guys to figure out." 17:13 I mean, is that, was that kinda new for you, or has that happened in the past? Well, no. During, uh, when we got, go back to Dugard years, uh, some of that money was... I mean, you, you literally fought over $200,000. 17:27 Yeah. I mean, you're, you're- That's scraps. You're, you're- That's scraps. Yeah. [laughs] You're- 14 million's a pretty good amount. 17:33 Yeah, that was- You're in the back room, and I mean, you are just, you, you know, "You moron. You wanna spend it on what?" And you're at each other. And so- I like to be in that room. Yeah, you did. 17:43 You could, uh- In the old days, you're liable to get your ass kicked for that. [laughs] So, um, you know, and 17:51 now it, it, you know, the last few years and what we've, have been doing since I got in is normally I'm in there at, at about 6:00. Um, I spend time with, uh, Melhoff and with the, um, the other vice chair, uh, Derby. 18:05 Uh, we get kind of our juices flowing on, on that there. And then I think it was on Thursdays we go down and meet with BFM. So, uh, everybody is aware of principally what we're doing. 18:18 The things that they're not aware of is that final grouping of, of, uh, bills that, um, are put on the whiteboard. And, uh, we normally pick five that both chambers agree on- Mm... 18:32 and those are, uh, principally a promissory note. All right, both chambers have agreed on it. You will vote yes on this thing. Is it harder to get to five nowadays than it used to be? Uh- It's harder to cut you up there. 18:43 Yeah. Yeah. You know, depending on the issue. Uh, you know, we've had good issues the last few years, so, uh, that's been easy. 18:51 And so then when we get through those, that last group of, of that are on the whiteboard, we hold those in reserve to work out which each chamber wants. But really at the end of the day, I mean, 19:05 it doesn't take a rocket scientist to principally look at five items there and go, "Well, I, I know which three items you guys are gonna go with." Mm. So it, you know, it's pretty cut and dry by that time. 19:16 Uh, we still will get in some, uh, scraps on, um... Uh, like last year we, uh, uh, backfilled on the TANF, I think it was about 425,000. There was a serious consternation over that. There was. Um, you know, which was... 19:32 I mean- Like STPB- That one... a couple years ago. Actually- Yeah, yeah... when we were... 19:38 If you go back and you look at us when we were on the floor, and we had, uh, feeding, uh, kids in school, that bill, and it passed off the Senate floor, and I voted no on it. 19:48 I, I had a, just a personal, that that's a parent's responsibility, and- Yeah... 19:53 if we are gonna help those folks, then I wanna look in the refrigerator, how much beer you got in there, you know, how many times you going out to eat, yada, yada, yada. Well, yeah. 20:01 You let the government start providing for you, then everybody gets a say. Yep. Right. 20:06 So what struck me on the floor is when it passed off and it passed off with good numbers, I'm going, "Something's changed with this group." I mean, the, the dynamic on how you're, we're looking at things have changed. 20:18 And then when we got into the TANF, uh, uh, end of it, uh, I was having consternation with myself as, uh, A, uh, we had already made cuts in it, uh, didn't wanna re- backfill on it, but here you have gone and you've providing property tax relief. 20:36 And they are right. We've got some low income people that are gonna be paying for people getting property tax, you know, whether you got a million dollar home or whatnot, and I was having some consternation. 20:47 So we're willing to do that for this group, but for 425,000 or $450,000 TANF, the poorest of the poor- Yeah... you guys wanna choke on this, and there's, there's... So anyway, I was- I could see the, uh, 21:02 I guess the intellectual dilemma- Yeah... there, right. I still- You know what's r- I'm sorry, I don't know, but you know what's refreshing to me about this? Is that you're actually having, like, 21:14 meat and potato policy discussions about what you, how you think it, the right way, um- To govern... to govern. 21:21 Uh, and you're looking at incentives and things like that and, you know, incentives dictate how people behave and things like that. We don't really get that at the federal level anymore, and so it's- Yeah... 21:30 it's refreshing to see these discussions. Yeah. 'Cause you can say... 21:33 I, I think, I think, you know, Representative Whitman and, and you and, uh, the, you know, on, you look at the, uh, the school lunch thing, there are good, good arguments on both sides, you know? 21:41 Well- So I th- I, that's what's refreshing to me about it. Yeah, just one, just, just to add on to what Senator Ott said, but like the last couple years, 21:49 the communication between the legislative branch and the executive branch, especially under Governor Rohn, and Governor Rohn being a product of the legislature, just really does, encourages that discussion and communication- The-... 22:04 all, the whole way through, and it just, in my opinion, just makes for a better process, rather than- Fighting... 22:10 you know, trying to hide the ball and whatever and come out at the end and flop your cards and then duke it out. I mean- [laughs]... so it's been a pretty b- good process. That's fun- I mean-... arms to cover sometimes. 22:20 Yeah. The, uh... Well, I was gonna a- That kinda lends itself to a thought I had. It felt like dur- during, like pre-Rohn administration, the, you know, your office and, uh, I think under your predecessor, um, 22:36 LRC and BFM were always a, a bit far off, right? I feel like that divide, like there isn't a big gap like there was before. No, when you- Have you noticed that? Yeah. 22:47 When you look at the numbers, I mean, they, these guys are sitting different ends of the doggone capital, and the numbers that they're producing, I mean, we're within a few million dollars to $100,000. 23:00 I mean, it's, it's that doggone close, so you're, you're- It makes you wonder why it wasn't like that before, and I'm not gonna insinuate, but- Part of it coming out- You're more aggressive... 23:09 coming out of the pandemic, understand things got a little volatile in the economy, and it was hard to know. Yeah. As you know, we've never had double-digit sales tax growth for two years in a row. 23:19 It just never happened, so- The rate is-... that made a little, that made it a little bit more difficult, and so your confidence level was a little bit bigger than it is now. 23:28 When your things are a little bit more stable and more predictable, you can be a little bit closer. Yeah. That's part of it, too. Well, I wonder, there's gotta be some philosophy to it, too, right? 23:36 Like, economists have their own outlooks, right? I mean, you, you're schooled in a certain, well, school of economics, but- Chicago School... you could have- For sure... 23:46 there's some gray area in there, have your own individuality as an economist- 100%... economist, right? I, three years ago, 23:55 uh, LRC was in and we were in one of our, uh, side, um, presentations, and, uh, uh, so the question popped up and there, I said, "All right. Do you guys know what, um, uh... 24:09 In the Carter years, we had, um, uh, what's the, um, inflation that was, uh-" Gas? No, can't think of it now, so we- In the Carter years, you had a lot of inflation. Yeah. Yeah. Um, peanuts. You had- [laughs] Not... 24:25 It wa- it stag- stag inflation Stagflation. Stagflation. Yeah. There it is. And, uh, one of the, uh, LRC guys, he's sitting there and finally goes, uh, "Well, I wasn't even born then." 24:36 And you're going, "Damn, you guys [laughs] are really, uh, dating this kid." 24:40 So- [laughs] Uh, uh, go forward one year and, um, uh, the individual come up to me, uh, and he says, "What do you wanna know about stag inflation?" So they had done deep dives- Oh, yeah Done some research and, yeah... 24:52 yeah, on it and, and whatnot, and some of our numbers. Uh, but I think, you know, for the, the listeners, I mean, we get together, uh, you know, Derby and I, we, we do our thing. 25:02 Uh, then once a week, uh, we're down with the, the governor's folks. Uh, um, lieutenant governor's right in the room, so I mean, there is no... 25:12 Uh, I guess I go back to the Rave years when the, n- I got there and, and, um, uh, my mentor was Cory Brown, is that, uh, you never always palms out. 25:22 You never, you know, sit down and, and have anybody think that you're pulling a fast one on them. 25:27 And so that's when, uh, I got the chairmanship on there, that, uh, I wanted to change a lot of that dynamic around and make sure that, uh, communication was enough. 25:36 Heck, we got, uh, the last couple years, we've gotten the last room, you know, and it's been 25:42 three items, two items, one item, and, you know, governor says, "I want this," and you're looking around the room going, "Done." Yeah. Get up and you walk out of the room and it's five minutes, so. Hm. 25:52 Doesn't have to be combative, right, or adversarial. 25:55 That's the one thing that really irritated me more in the older, um, going back far enough, is we would fight over something the last five days, when that doggone conversation and fight was finished a week and a half ago. 26:11 And here you're trying to drag up it again, and I mean, the, the dog's dead. [laughs] So, you know, let's, let's move on and, and get that. So that's, that's what we try to do and, and- Yeah... 26:21 I think we've got a pretty good, uh, working relationship. 26:24 I mean, we're, um, uh, the nice thing is when I do walk out of the governor's office or off or walk out of, uh, BFM, I don't have to wonder, "Was that really a, a no? I mean, what did you really mean by no?" 26:37 [laughs] I, I know a no is a bloody no. Yeah. Not happening. Yeah. And that's what you like to have. Well, yeah, it's, I mean, those discussions, it's nice to have some finality. Yep. You move on. Yeah. 26:52 [sighs] Well- Well, you know, we should probably take a break, talk about... There's some stuff coming down the pike, some news. What kind of news? Get a little scoop in the commercial break. Okay. All right. 27:04 Sounds good. Come on alone. Head for the mountains of Bush beer. Head for the mountains. It's cold and it's smooth and it's waiting for you. Come on, head for the mountains of Bush beer. 27:21 Head for the mountains of Bush. Head for the mountains of Bush like me. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2022. Amos Bush, Bush and Bush Light Beer, St. Louis, Missouri. Beale Distributing, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 27:36 A lifetime isn't measured in speeches. It's measured in actions. Larry Rhoden spent his life ranching, welding, serving on the school board, as a deacon in his church, a volunteer basketball coach. 27:49 Long before he was governor, Larry Rhoden was serving his community, not for attention, not for headlines. That's just who he is. 27:57 As governor, he kept serving, delivering the largest property tax cut in South Dakota history, putting $1,000 or more back in families' pockets, reducing violent crime, murder, meth, and robberies by double digits. 28:11 Standing up for life, banning the abortion pill, and defending our Second Amendment rights, earning him the endorsement of the NRA. Some politicians spend a lifetime pretending to be somebody else. 28:23 Larry Rhoden spent his lifetime showing us who he is. July 28th, Governor Larry Rhoden, keeping South Dakota strong, safe, free, and built to last. Paid for by Rhoden for Governor. 28:36 We could have saved the three bears a lot of time. Just Right Mattresses, built by mattress nerds with a lifetime comfort commitment. We build them by hand and deliver with love. 28:47 June Sleep Systems in Sioux Falls and online at junasleep.com. Thanks again to June Sleep Systems and Beale Distributing- Yeah... makers of fine beds and fine beverages. Tastes good today. I was, uh, driving back 29:04 from Mount Rushmore. Was that- You guys good? You need another beer or anything? Aaron? Good, good. Good, thank you. You want some t- want some whiskey? Sorry. Better pass on that. Were you driving? 29:14 I was driving back from Mount Rushmore, uh, on July 4th, heading to Madison, South Dakota after the president had been here, and I, it was remarkable to me about how well, how good the crops look across the state, look like, where I drove. 29:30 They were over knee-high. They were definitely over knee-high by the Fourth of July. Um, and just everything looks good. 29:35 Like we've, we've been getting kind of, uh, looks like in at least parts of the state we've been getting rain when we need it. 29:42 Um, that kind of, to me, bolsters, uh, I mean, I know commodity prices aren't what they were, but they aren't awful, are they? So I mean, that, that's a big part of the state economy. 29:52 And kinda what are you, what are you looking at- Yeah... in that, in that area? Yeah, that, I mean, good point. I think we've been pretty lucky so far, although we have a, you know, big week of heat going on right now. 30:05 But, uh, for the most part, I think the crops generally across the state look pretty good. Um, you know, the, the, the prices certainly could be better. Those are things we look at when we look at the economy. Mm-hmm. 30:16 Uh, cattle prices have been pretty dang strong the last several years, and so anybody that's, you know, got both cattle and crops and livestock and stuff like that, or a little bit more di- diversified, that's helped offset some of those, uh, little bit lower prices. 30:30 And so, you know, things seem to be pretty good on that front. Um, we have a council of economic advisors that helps advise us on doing our revenue estimates and all that type of stuff, and we get... 30:41 We have 12 experts from ac- across the state. East to west, different sectors and all that type of stuff. 30:47 I think we had our last meeting, uh, late May or early June, and it was actually a little bit more optimistic than it had been the last few, um, meetings. 30:56 Um, you know, s- even in the retail sector, a few folks in that area, uh, report, uh, some stronger sales. It's evident in our sales tax was up 6.6%. Our average over the last 20 years is, like, 4.7, and so that's good. 31:11 Right. Lowest unemployment rate in the nation. Um, you look at our GDP and income growth, if you measure that, uh, fairly on a year over year basis, we're ranked in the top five, um, in the nation of all states. 31:23 And so the economy seems to be doing, you know, fairly well. 31:27 Our revenue c- comes in, finishes higher, so it was kind of better than what we assessed back in February when the Appropriations, uh, kind of listens to our opinion and the LRC. 31:37 And so for the most part, we th- you know, things are doing pretty well on the economy side in South Dakota. The, uh- Yep... you mentioned the heat. 31:45 Is this kind of heat usually good for the crops in August though, right? This is a little early for this kind of heat. It is, but I have seen, uh, corn tasseling already. 31:54 Uh, so we're r- I know you, your neighbor for sure- They got it in early or what? Yeah. You're not for sure- Yeah... if they got it in earlier, if it's a hybrid or whatever, you know, they're using, so. 32:04 Yeah, it looks good. I mean, knock on wood. Haven't had a lot of weather events to do that, but. We did have a helicopter, uh... He was spraying, uh, today and, uh, you know, you... 32:15 I'm outside, 7:00 in the morning, and I hear this chopper coming in and I'm going, "You know, we, we got incoming coming." Oh, yeah. And, uh, he was just a quarter of a mile over, and she... 32:26 And that was something to watch. I mean- What kind of helicopter was it, do you know? The- It almost looked like something that MacKinnon would have. Oh. An Agvera. 32:34 And then what was funny on it, um, when I was coming in, uh, he had to get refilled or re... 32:42 They had to pump the, the new chemicals up in it, and he landed on a doggone truck that had a flat top t- on it, and there's another guy there who's pumping into the, to the tanks. 32:52 And I'm going, "That's the wildest thing I've ever..." You know, I would've thought they'd have found a field, but no, we're doing it right in the middle of the road. Huh. And, uh- Official. I don't know. 33:01 So yeah, it was, it was kinda wild. Yeah. Cool. You gotta get a license for that? Probably, like- Some pilot's license... pilot license. You gotta fly a helicopter. Yeah. Danner, you gotta register with Danner. 33:11 Probably have to have some type of application license to put that stuff out there and stuff, I'm sure too. I bet. The, uh... Speaking of asbestos, wrote a story about asbestos. Our friend Jeff Lamont's back in the news. 33:26 Gotta have a little current event news in here. Did you see that story? Yep. In the US Bank building? Yep. Yeah. I got a text message from a developer in town who said that they've always known that that is... 33:36 That's asbestos central. Well, the guy apparently, according to Danner, uh, US Bank complained. They're like, "There's all this dust, and we're worried there's asbestos in it." So Danner calls Lamont, and they don't 33:50 allegedly call back for weeks. And then there's another complaint the same day US Bank sends its employees home, 'cause they're, "This is just a hazard now." And they're like, "No, we didn't... 34:03 W- we've, we haven't disturbed any asbestos." And then Danner sends in an inspector. He says, "Eh, this whole place is... You blasted through a lot of asbestos." This is all allegedly. So anyway, if you... 34:17 You gotta go down south to get to the next US Bank. Sorry, sorry US Bank customers downtown. Anyway, so, uh... So did you get doused with some chemicals then, Ray? No, no. 34:30 I, um, I stayed back far enough to, uh, stay out of it, but I w- I was totally fascinated. I did get part of it on the, uh, the phone before he took off. Yeah? I mean, he was just, uh- I-... 34:42 up, up and away, and he was gone. You got internet at your place yet? We finally did, and, uh, my story always was is, you know, even during the Dugard years, you know, here you got... You come home with your 34:55 computer and whatnot, and you're doing work at home, and now I've got a contact pier. And, uh, I've got no way to... I mean, the, uh, w- we had Rowena at the time, and you know, it was very spotty at the time. 35:08 You know, you'd be doing something, and then all of a sudden it disappears and that kind of stuff. So I'd have to drive into town, and, uh, uh, Vera's got a, a clinic there. 35:18 And so midnight, there I am parked alongside the clinic so I can get Wi-Fi. Legislator. And of course the, uh, the, the cop always, you know, he'd come by and, "Yes, it's me again. So, you know, run, run along." 35:31 And, uh, uh, but that's how he got... Now we've got a, a hard line, and, and my wife was totally delighted. Oh, I remember one of the first times we ever spoke, I called to talk about broadband. 35:41 And, you know, somebody had told me that you couldn't get internet at your place. Yeah. And, uh, broadba- broadband initiatives might, uh- Yeah, it just-... be welcome news... 35:51 we were in a null or whatever it is, and you just couldn't get it. I mean, we tried everything. We even tried Hughes, uh, Satellite for a while, and that was just a serious joke. 36:02 I mean- Well, they didn't, they didn't have Starlink yet either back then, right? So the, uh, uh... That was a long time ago. Working at the Argus back then. But the, uh... 36:15 How were you, where were you at on all the property tax stuff? I- I can't remember your votes. Did you- I, I voted yes for it. Um, uh- The whole thing... the package. 36:27 Yeah, the- The governor's- The whole, the whole package. Yeah. Um... The pro tem and I, we had talked about it, and, and I, I believed everything that he was saying. 36:37 I had a, a systemic problem with Um, placing a tax on stuff that the lower income people are gonna end up paying to g- to get some. Uh, I'd also had, um, uh, didn't like giving multi-million dollar homes a tax break. 36:54 Having said all that, when I come back home and, uh, uh, folks, uh, knew my truck and, and whatnot and were giving me the two cents that, you know, we can't. I had just got my... And it went up again another 500 bucks. 37:08 The guy about a mile from me, it went up, uh, almost $800. And he's going, "I mean, what's going on?" And you're going, "All right, I, I got it." Yeah. I, I, I'll go ahead and, and, uh, do this. 37:19 And, um, uh, I think it's, it was the right thing to do. Um- Well, property owners vote at a higher rate than renters probably too. Well, they do, but if you- Yeah... look back to, um, uh, 37:31 uh, when Janklow first did it, of course he went to tax exemptions, um, to get it done. And so we've gone through these phases of, of property tax. 37:41 I, I principally think it's an antiquated system, but I've never been able to come up with something that is stable. Right. And the system we've got, whatever, you know, you may not like it, but it is stable. 37:52 Uh, so any time you start reaching for, uh, something that is in the sales realm, uh, then you're in that fluctuation. So we've got income coming in now. 38:01 Now next year we don't have income coming down, and then you get these high-low deals. And so that's, uh, some of my trepidation on, on that. 38:10 You gotta blow the whole system up, start something new, but nobody's got an idea on how to do that yet. Uh, aside from just don't tax, but, uh... And I'm a lib- a lowercase L libertarian. 38:22 I, like, I could fend for myself, but I don't think everybody could. So, but what the, what's... I mean, what, what's coming on that? I mean, the, people keep saying they're gonna get 30% off of what was- So here's... 38:40 Yeah, let me chip in on that, 'cause I helped draft the bills. You wrote, you wrote the bills. Yeah. Yeah, helped work on that whole package. So yeah, there's two pieces of it. 38:49 Uh, the f- the first piece I'll just speak on Senate Bill 245, and so that's where, that's statewide, owner occupied. Everybody's gonna get that automatically. 39:00 The legislature lowered the levy, the school general fund levy, bought it down by $1.68 per thousand. So whatever your home's worth in thousands, tax that. 39:11 Take that times $1.68, that's the tax savings as a result of Senate Bill 245. So everybody'll get that in your paid 2027 taxes. On average, that's about a 15% reduction. Okay? Yeah. 39:24 So that's coming when you get your tax bill, what, end of January, first part of February. That's significant. It's pretty significant. Yeah. So on a $325,000 house, I think it's $547, okay? 39:37 The second piece is the optional, uh, reduction at the county level, and so when we looked at this last year, 39:45 um, when we were kinda racking our ba- brains of how we could provide property tax relief, and so this was Governor Rhoden's proposal, Senate Bill 96. 39:55 And so that provides property tax relief, again, directly to owner occupied, but it's gotta be opted in by the county- Yeah... to levy an optional half cent sales tax at the county level. 40:04 And so we just actually had the first county, Mead County, adopted here a couple days ago, so they're gonna move forward with that. Um, so they'll, they'll kinda start that this coming, this coming January 1st. 40:16 I didn't know- I was gonna ask you about that. Um, if, I mean, obviously the Department of Revenue will know when counties opt into that. Yep. Um, your office will, hears that too? I mean... 40:26 Yeah, I mean, I've been working really closely. 40:29 You know, when we, when we visited with the legislature Senate House going through the legislative session on that whole bill, and we're like, "We are here to help counties implement whatever questions they have." 40:40 We had talked to a d- dozen different counties. 40:42 Most of that's been Mike Cowdishell, Department of Revenue, uh, because he's, you know, they have the, kinda their property tax staff over there, and they're experts in that area. 40:50 But yeah, so we have Mead County, we've got Coddington County looking at it, Penny D. County, Lincoln County's looked at it. Number of count- probably a dozen we've talked to. Yeah, I saw. 40:59 Our, our friends at Aberdeen Insiders, uh, have, were covering the Brown County, and Brown County is star- start- starting to kick it around too, so. Yeah. Yeah. 41:06 Well, you, you, I remember you bringing the county sales tax- I did... bill when I first started covering the legislature the second session. That's eight years back. Yeah. Yeah. And, 41:19 you know, you were kind of on an island. Uh, I was on, more on an i- uh, yeah. Um, uh, I had Constantine Wire, but I didn't put up the Constantine Wire. Others had- They did... 41:29 had done that on me, and- Well, Thirkield did that Put you in there. Yeah. 41:32 [laughs] And the thing that, you know, I've always felt that in order to stabilize the property tax even back then, there had to be another mechanism, and that's what I was reaching for, just another mechanism that we can level this thing out until we finally reach that point where the mill levy and f- and the assessments, they, they start to equalize themselves, uh, which could be another few years yet. 41:58 Um... Well, Senate Bill 96, that's an additional, another 15 to 20% on top of the 15% from 245. That's where you get to the 30 to 35%- Yeah... right? Yeah. 42:09 The other thing I'd say is too is this is the half cent for the counties. The counties don't get any additional, there's no, really no benefit at the county level. They don't have more money to spend. Mm-hmm. 42:19 It's just a different- It really-... a different revenue source. It's a shift, right? Like, I mean, you can't get around it. The governor was very open about that as well. Yeah. 42:27 It's a different revenue source, but the thing that I, I think helped convince a lot of legislators that it was okay is when I come down to a basketball game in Sioux Falls and I drive down to Sioux Falls Roosevelt and I cut on this county road and I get off the interstate, I'm using county services when I'm down here almost all the time, right? 42:49 And for the most part, those services are on the backs of many of our Lincoln County taxpayers. Yep. Well, this gives a different revenue source where more people are contributing to that cause. 43:00 The bucket's gonna stay the sa- same level no matter what. Yeah. So, yeah. And I tell you, when I, uh, I got sent up to Washington DC for, uh, um, two days, even went over to the White House. 43:14 But, uh, in some of our back meetings that we were having, you know, I'd ask other legislators, and it, it principally was chairs of appropriations 43:23 across the, the nation, and, you know, "Guys having problem with property tax?" "Yeah." "What is your solution?" And it would be just the dead stare. [laughs] Nobody has- Don't have a bloody clue. Mm-hmm. 43:36 You just, the interesting thing, though, about the Senate Bill 96, Texas has had this exact same system since the mid-'90s, and about half of their counties have opted in, and it's the exact same- Really?... 43:47 the exact same thing. We found that out, actually, after we had it- Really?... put together. Yeah. Interesting. Well- And then Georgia implemented about a year ago. 43:55 I'd be shocked if Lincoln County didn't do it, 'cause they've been kind of the poster child for... They've been poster child on a lot of things. A lot. [laughs] So, uh, your wife Betty was on the commission. Uh, 44:13 she had to resign for some health stuff, right? Yep, she had a, um, a stroke, and it was on the left temporal lobe, so it was in the speech center. Is she okay? Uh, she is. 44:23 Um, uh, we just, um, spent yesterday, uh, at the hospital and whatnot doing a series of tests. Her speech is coming back to a degree. Uh, I think that, um, most likely it's gonna take a good year. 44:37 Uh, when we were talking about it, you know, because state statute principally says you can be gone for four months, and, um, you know, do you wanna reset? 44:46 You know, we go in for a, uh, a very easy, um, uh, meeting where it's yes, no, and you could start the four months there. And we both felt that that was disingenuous. 44:56 It was disingenuous to the voters and the people that put you in there. And so, um, she decided that she couldn't, um, uh, give it 100%, and, uh, so, uh, uh, she resigned. 45:07 I was very, uh, actually very proud of her that, uh, uh, she didn't let the, um, um, monkey of, of staying in, in power, uh, grab her and, and so. 45:18 Well, she was, she was at the, uh, announcements when, uh, Mayor TenHaken endorsed the governor, and she looked good. So it's good to see- She-... her out and about, so. 45:27 Um, she wanted to, to go with me, and, and, um, um, 45:33 there are, uh, during this, this race, there are adjectives that, uh, you'll be shocked that will come to, uh, to the limelight as she's lo- searching for words, so I, I was very pleased that she wanted to come, uh- We'll give her our best. 45:48 I sh- I shall do that. But I suppose she doesn't have to, uh, have a front row seat to a circus every Tuesday. No, and that was one of the things that not only the, the, 45:59 the stroke, but she also had, uh, some heart problems. And, uh, we had to get rid of the stress, and, uh, there's been some going-ons down there where- Oh. [laughs]... um, that, um- Goings-on... goings-on. 46:12 [laughs] There's been, uh, even some constituents coming in and principally, um, uh, threatening people, I mean, you know. And, um, uh, took it to, to the state's attorney and whatnot, and the individual's borderline. 46:26 I mean, sh- doesn't take much and, and so, you know, when you end up leaving, whether it be the capital or whatnot, and you get these heated conversations thrown at you, you know, you start, um, to look over your shoulder and whatnot. 46:39 And, um, I didn't feel that, um, and she didn't feel that, um, it was worth continuing under that. Well, la- last week they picked another Otten. They did. That's your cousin, right? My, my cousin. 46:55 Um, and, um, uh, I think that they did well there. Um, he has got background as mayor of Tea, so he's got that background. He's been on the council, so he's got that background. He knows how to set a budget. 47:08 Uh, when he went to Pierre, uh, he has been in, uh, the House and the Senate. Uh, he's been in Ag for, I think he was chairman there for four years, so he's got that Ag background for the, the backside of the county. 47:21 And, um, I thought that he had enough, um, uh, resources there, would, he would, um, do well. 47:27 And, um, uh, I was pleased when, um, they came and principally s- were asking the, the principal question of what would Betty like. And so, uh, um, she, uh, we worked through a, um, a statement list. 47:42 Um, it took a while, but, uh, she's able to, um, uh, get that out. We got it in a letter and, and sent it down, and, and, uh, they were gracious enough to put Herman in there for two year now. Wow, that's great. 47:53 Well, today's news was, uh, Commissioner Putnam alleging that, uh, somehow a majority vote for the appointee was corrupt- Yeah... in some way. I don't know. He didn't get the outcome he wanted. 48:10 Um, they've been howling down there that it's always a 3-2 vote. Well, at the end of the day, what you're wanting to do is change the 3-2 vote to a 3-2 vote. Right. I mean, uh, you just want another side of the equation. 48:24 And so, uh, the thing that you've gotta keep advised, in, uh, in my mind, and I've, I've told a lot of folks this back at home, is, uh, we have a tendency that... 48:34 You know, I've, I've lived there all my life, and Tea, uh, Tea at the time I was born had about 150 people in it. I mean, uh, there used to be, uh, uh, 48:45 people in the church that would say, "Yeah, I knew you when you were a little baby," and you'd be carrying your diaper down the street going to grand- grandpa's. And it's old school... 48:54 you know, that's- that's really back there old time, so that is Mayberry. And a lot of folks think that we're still Mayberry, and we're not. 49:01 And so the innovation and, and the growth that's gonna end up happening in Lincoln County, uh, next 10 years you could easily have 60,000 people dropping in that northern hub of, of Lincoln County, which brings us real close to being number two in the state. 49:16 So- The tags license plate... I think that you need somebody in there that c- constantly can't say no. I mean, I get it. I mean, we, uh, you know, walk into rooms and you're going, you know... 49:28 Even on our budget, every year that there's been a budget up in Pierre, uh, the years I've been up there, there's time, you know, I look at the budget and I'm going, I wanna look at everybody and, you know, "Are you guys real? 49:38 I mean, come on, guys." Yeah. 49:41 And, uh, even this last time, and I, here I'm chairman, I work for the caucus, and so you're working all the, the angles and making sure that all views are put in that and whatnot, and I had turned to, um, uh, the co-chair, uh, Derby, and said, "Well, I can count 10 bills that I'd have loved to said no to." 49:58 And he laughed at me and he says, "Well, I got 12." So- [laughs]... 50:01 I mean, that's just the position that you get in, so that when you start looking at Lincoln County, we've just got a lot of folks down there, A, they want the benefits of Lincoln County, they want the benefits of Sioux Falls, they wanna be able to come and shop and, and, uh, the upper end of, of, uh, the economic scale. 50:18 But- All those good things... don't be messing with my view out my backdoor window. And we have, you know, if you go anywhere in the state, you know, we are the county that says, "No." Yeah. I mean, just, you know- 50:29 You don't want prisons, you don't want solar farms- Nope... you don't want data centers. Nope. Yeah. Nope. We want beer. We don't, uh- [laughs] Beer. Yeah. We don't want beer, we don't want, uh, internet. We don't... 50:42 We, no. I know. And so that gets a little frustrating. I mean, because somewhere along the line you have to start drawing lines. 50:49 And as I've told folks back at home, "You may not agree with some of my, my votes and whatnot, but we're sent there to govern." 50:55 I mean, you know, I'm not sent there to d- to give an ideological speech and, and whatnot, and that, uh, you know... Thank God for Corey Brown and, and, uh, um, Olsen. 51:07 I mean, they were the ones that kinda took me under my wing when I first got there coming out of the Tea Party and- Ed Olsen? Um, no, uh- Mill? Uh, Olsen from, um, Madison. Um, Russ. Oh, Russ Olsen. Russ Olsen. 51:21 Yeah, sure. Yeah. 'Cause you beat, you beat Gene Abdalla in the primary. Yep. That's, that... Was that 2012? Uh, I believe so, yeah. 51:28 Yeah, I think it was 'cause he got redistri- well, I mean, the redistrict- Redistrict... he, I mean, he got a bigger chunk of that south that, uh- Yeah, they drew that thing up for me. I mean- [laughs] 51:40 I'm, I mean, I'm, I'm looking at that going, "I'm in Harrisburg." Well, my, my- Yeah... grandad's buried in Harrisburg on my mom's side. Right. 51:46 And, uh, well, they put T- her, uh, Lennox in there, and all my other grandad is buried in Lennox. I've got my kids... I went to Harrisburg, I went to Lennox. 51:55 My kids have gone to, to Lennox, and I'm going, "Well, I've lived in T all my life, and you guys drew this thing up for me." Yeah. 52:01 [laughs] And so it was just one of those moments in time that, um, uh, you were able to, uh, do the impossible. Yeah. No, I mean, Gene Abdalla was a, was a, uh, obviously a, a legislative force, but yeah, he got a... 52:14 It was a, not a great district for him after that re- redistricting, so. Yeah. Ah, the good old days. Yeah. Everything must come to an end, right? [laughs] So yeah. 52:26 Well, it must, and then, you know, everything happens for a reason. Yeah. And I had, uh, Hal Wick, and he was one of the instigators. He wanted me to run and whatnot, and I c- I was working at Schoenmann's. 52:37 I said, "Well, I'm not, I'm not gonna do that to my boss. I'm not gonna go to him and say, 'Hey, I wanna run for the legislature.' I'm, you know, my obligation is to him." 52:47 And, uh, next thing I know is, uh, the boss is, uh, over the PA system, wants to talk to me. I'm going, "Oh, God, now what did I do?" 52:57 So I go walking back in there and, and, uh, he says, "I hear you wanna run for the legislature." Going, "Well, no, that's not quite right, but y- yeah." And he said, "Well, Hal's been to talk, came and talked to me." 53:09 And I'm going, "You have got to be kidding me." And, um, he said, "Go for it." And, um, so I did and, and as I made the conversation back to Pierre, you know, they were all excited. 53:21 We'll end up with two Ottens running for the House. And then when they found out I was running for the Senate it, uh, uh, some of my luster- Yeah... seemed to got rubbed off. 53:31 But- Well, Hal Wick was, uh, Tea Party decades before the Tea Party existed. He was. Yeah, he was, uh, he was a force in that 1980 election when McGovern got knocked out of the- Yep. Yep. Boy, the good old days. 53:44 Yep, good old days. Yeah. Well, thanks for coming in. Yeah, appreciate it. Appreciate you guys. Yeah, thanks for having us. Enjoy it. Good luck the second half of the... 53:55 Well, the first half of the fiscal year, I suppose. Thank you. Yeah. Yep. Well, the Appropriations Committee meets on Monday, so we get a good go reha- talk about all this stuff again. Well- I'm fired up for that... 54:07 tell your members to give it a listen. Sure will. You know, listen, life's good in South Dakota. Yep. No better place to be. And we normally talk once a week. 54:18 Well, you guys, uh, I mean, when we're talking about budgets and, and stuff like that, that can be pretty boring material, but you guys, you did okay I think today. So- We talk once a week. So anyway, thanks guys. 54:30 Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks to Beal Distributing. June Sleep Systems. News tips welcome. Thanks. [upbeat music]
